Hearing the system's words, Wise was left speechless. A curse like that seemed a bit too cruel. He had no desire to experience the same fate as Louis XVI, and besides, he didn't think his sister or Anby would ever do something like that.
Lost in these thoughts, Wise arrived back at the video store. Seeing it was getting late, he decided to start making lunch.
(Author's Note: While re-reading the story, I suddenly discovered that the video store is actually supposed to have a kitchen. I didn't see it in the game, so I assumed it didn't have one. It seems my understanding was shallow. The reason I'm mentioning this here is because I'm too lazy to go back and change the earlier chapters, so I'm just making a note of it here. I'm truly sorry.)
Speaking of cooking, it seemed he had acquired a talent for it earlier. Although it was only a B-rank talent, it should be pretty good, right?
"Wise, you're back!" Belle, who had been idly scrolling through her phone in the shop out of boredom, noticed him and walked over happily. But the moment she got close, she sensed something was wrong.
"Hm? Something's not right. This is a twelve-out-of-ten level of not right."
"Uh, what's wrong, Belle? Be careful, there are still other people in the shop."
Wise watched as Belle brought her face close to his, her nose twitching as if she were sniffing for something. The more she did, the deeper her frown became. After a short while, Belle finally stopped, but Wise could see the unfriendly look in her eyes. Before he could react, he was pulled into the first-floor room.
Then, Belle pinned him against the wall in a kabedon. Due to their height difference, he could only look down at her.
"What on earth is wrong, Belle?" Wise asked, looking at the uncharacteristically aggressive Belle before him. For some reason, the system's warning from earlier kept coming to mind.
"It's strange..."
"W-what is?"
"Brother, why do you smell like another girl?"
I'm doomed!
Wise panicked internally. It had been a while already, so why could Belle still smell it? Was it an innate skill all girls had, or was Belle just exceptionally gifted? No, now's not the time for that. I need to figure out how to bluff my way out of this.
Wise thought to himself, but he was clearly caught in a misunderstanding of his own. In this situation, if he just told her directly, she would probably understand. Uh, probably...
"That... must be your imagination, Belle. The scent might be from something I accidentally brushed up against..."
Wise hadn't even finished his sentence before Belle's rebuttal came, her tone firm. "Impossible. The scent of a girl on your clothes is this strong; there's no way it was accidental. And just now, your heart rate clearly sped up! That's a sign of lying!"
"..."
I'm suddenly getting the feeling Belle would make a great detective...
Although Wise had always known that Belle's IQ was high, he wished she wouldn't use it in situations like this. Can you please not? You're making this very difficult for me!
"I'm going to count to three, brother. If you're still not willing to talk, then I'm going to..." (start crying and making a scene!) Belle pouted, holding up three fingers and slowly lowering them as she counted down. It was clear she wasn't joking.
Seeing the situation, Wise had no choice but to tell the truth. "Alright, fine, I'll talk, okay? The truth is, I ran into Anby on the way..."
"Anby? Why is she so close to you? I thought it would be Nicole wanting another discount on the commission, so she was going to... ahem, use her body to seduce you, brother. No, wait, it's also possible that Nicole sent Anby to do it."
Listening to Belle's all-too-logical analysis, Wise couldn't take it anymore and gave her a light karate chop on the forehead. "Ow, that hurts!"
"Alright, stop letting your imagination run wild. I met Anby at the toy store." Wise then recounted everything that had happened at the toy store, including how he had given the Disk Drive from the store owner to Anby. "I figured the Disk Drive would be useless to us, so I gave it to Anby. Besides, we'll need her help with commissions in the future, so..."
"I don't have a problem with that part. The key issue is the scent on you. How did it get there? Spit it out!"
Seeing that he had failed to distract Belle, Wise could only sigh and continue the story...
"What?! Brother, you actually used giving her a Disk Drive as an excuse to demand that Anby do that kind of thing as repayment? That's shameless! I can't believe you're that kind of person, you big pervert! Oh my god! Are you going to use this to blackmail Anby later?"
Belle's explosive outburst left Wise stunned for a moment. When he came to his senses, he didn't know what to say. What kind of things has my sister been watching? How does she know all these weirdly specific things?
"Stop, stop, stop! What are you even talking about? Didn't I just say that Anby initiated it? How did the meaning get so twisted when it got to you?"
"Anby initiated it? Impossible. From what I know of her, she would never do something like that without someone guiding her. Brother, you can't lie. And even if she did initiate it, you have to take responsibility, understand?"
What Belle said was indeed correct, but the problem was that the one who had "guided" Anby wasn't Wise.
"Of course, I know that. And the reason Anby did that was because she watched some unscrupulous movies." Wise decided to stop hiding things and recounted the situation in detail one more time. This time, Belle finally understood.
"Oh, so that's what happened? That's great. For a moment there, I was about to report you to the Public Security Bureau for being a pervert who deceives innocent young girls."
"Please stop calling your dear brother a pervert. Alright, since we've cleared things up, I'm going to go make food now." Wise gestured with his hands, signaling for Belle to let him go. She obediently did so, but she wasn't finished talking yet.
"Brother, in the future, you have to discuss important things like this with me. After all, given our relationship, something as important as finding a sister-in-law requires my opinion too."
"Alright, alright, I know. What do you want to eat tonight?"
Seeing that Wise wasn't taking her words very seriously, Belle was a little dissatisfied. But for the sake of a delicious meal, she still told him what she wanted to eat.
Even so, a little worry remained in her heart. After all, it wasn't uncommon in movies for a brother to move out and live separately from his sister after getting a girlfriend because it was "inconvenient." Belle couldn't help but wonder what she would do if that really happened.
A life after leaving my brother...
No, that won't happen. How could something like that possibly happen? We're siblings who depend on each other, after all.
Right?
Right... right?